Viewpoint: An Oddity No Longer

Sometime between May and September, Stefan
Struve officially joined the ranks of the 7-foot club.

It is a fairly exclusive group, with membership generally reserved
for men with lucrative shoe contracts and solid back-to-the-basket
skills. In the MMA world, however, width, not height, is the most
respected currency. That is why massive, thickly muscled
heavyweights such as Alistair
Overeem and Brock
Lesnar have been so easily able to capture the fight fan’s
imagination.

When a lanky athlete such as Struve enters the arena, he is often
quickly labeled as little more than a sideshow. Early on in the
Dutchman’s career, he did little to dispel the notion. Junior dos
Santos, Roy Nelson
and Travis
Browne added Struve to their personal highlight reels, and even
in victory he often absorbed tremendous amounts of punishment.
Rarely was Struve in a boring fight, but rarely did he win
convincingly enough to inspire confidence that a future contender
was lurking inside his beanpole frame.

It became easy to dismiss Struve against any foe with dangerous
power, and in the heavyweight division, that type of opposition is
plentiful. The man with the moniker of “Skyscraper” worked
diligently to shift perceptions. Wins over Pat Barry,
Dave
Herman and Lavar
Johnson showed Struve was resourceful and tough, but he still
took his share of licks. Despite incremental improvements, it
appeared that Struve’s best game plan was to eat strikes, pull
guard and hope for a Hail Mary submission. When he was paired with
the up-and-coming Stipe
Miocic at
UFC on Fuel TV 5 on Saturday in Nottingham, England, it looked
like the Team Schrijber member’s modest winning streak had reached
its end.

Miocic could box and wrestle, and besides, was not Struve long
overdue to hit the canvas in spectacular fashion once again? This
was supposed to be the bout where Struve resumed his role as
entertaining gatekeeper and paved the way for Miocic’s arrival into
the division’s Top 10. Someone forgot to alert the Dutchman that
this was the plan, as Struve gave arguably the finest performance
of his career in a second-round stoppage of Miocic.

Fabricio
Werdum File Photo

Could Werdum be next?

“I heard some complaints about my power in the past, but I think
they might change their opinion right now,” Struve said. “I need to
work on using my reach better. Some moments were pretty good, some
weren’t so good, but I think I showed I have a good chin. I’ve got
four wins in a row with four finishes, and [UFC President] Dana
[White] said I’m about Top 5 in the world now, so I’m pretty proud
as a 24-year-old.”

When Struve approached the Octagon at the Capital FM Arena, Fuel TV
analyst Kenny
Florian remarked that the young heavyweight added something new
to his game each time out. I chuckled to myself, wondering if
Florian had ever heard Struve say he needed to learn how to better
use his reach before, oh, practically every one of his fights. I
smugly sat through round one, nodding knowingly as Miocic
consistently got inside of Struve’s considerable range, landing
multiple punches to the head and body of his opponent.

“Same old Struve,” I thought to myself, as I awaited the inevitable
knockout. Well, it came, but it was Struve who delivered it. Buoyed
by a far more aggressive approach than he demonstrated in the
opening period, Struve had Miocic reeling with uppercuts and hooks
in round two.

There would be no need for a white-knuckle comeback on this night,
as referee Herb Dean
rushed in to save Miocic before Struve could inflict any more
damage at the 3:50 mark. It was not Struve’s first knockout
victory, but it was his most significant. On the very same week
that “Skyscraper” revealed that he is indeed seven feet tall, he
also showed the world that he is much more than a curiosity.
Calling him a Top 5 contender is a stretch at this point, but give
Struve credit for shining on the grandest stage of his career to
date.

“You know, I think I showed that I am still getting better,
stronger in every fight. I am getting more powerful in every shot,”
he said.

Struve may never have Jon Jones’
mastery of reach and distance -- few do -- but maybe he can remain
relevant without it. Since he is not yet 25 years old, there is
still plenty of time for development. After Saturday’s victory,
Struve planted the seed for a potential showdown with Fabricio
Werdum.

“I think it would be an awesome fight, and he is one of the best
fighters in the world,” Struve said. “I think I can rock him on the
ground and I can beat him.”

At the moment, it is hard to put Struve above any of those men, but
at least he is in the discussion. That is better than the position
he was in a little more than a year ago, when “Travis
Browne” and “Superman punch” were the words most commonly
associated with his name.

A little bit wiser. A little bit stronger. A little bit taller. It
finally looks as though Struve is ready to reach new heights in his
MMA career.